Power up your gut: 8 proven steps on how to improve your digestion

Digestion is not only related to proper breakdown of food and absorption of nutrients. It plays a critical factor in reversing body inflammation and improving your mental health too. The best way to improve digestion include - staying away from sugar and processed foods, eating healthy fats, consuming high fiber foods, drinking 8 glasses of water, and adding up on probiotic foods. Fermented vegetables, apple cider vinegar, flax seeds etc are great for your gut bacteria. Ensure that you perform exercises regularly. Yoga is known to improve digestion, especially in people with chronic digestive disorders.

Foods high in sugar and artificial chemicals produce high inflammation in the body and are thus bad for digestion. These are some of the commonly eaten foods that are actually the worst foods for your stomach and digestion - alcohol, artificial sweeteners, saturated fats (animal fats), food additives, fried foods, soda drinks, hydrogenated oils, and certain varieties of soft cheeses.

Of mice and men

But the good kind of bacteria that aids in digestion. Human beings have one the largest microcosm of bacteria in their digestive tracts.

Recent studies have indicated that the number of gut microbes is 10 times more than the total number of human cells.

These serve a plethora of functionalities including fermentation of dietary fiber, breaking down long chain fatty acids, metabolizing bile and stomach acids, synthesizing essential nutrients, and reversing bodily inflammation.

But the most prominent function of the gut bacteria was revealed when a team of scientists interchanged the gut flora of two distinct categories of mice.

One group was fearless and healthy, the other was anxious and timid.

The result of this simple experiment changed the world’s perspective on the importance of the gut.

Only with the simple interchange of gut bacteria, scientists were able to observe a dramatic effect.

The exchange caused the anxious ones to become bold and vice versa.

This raised a big question – is gut culture related to our brain and behavior? And does this relation stand true for human beings too?

Do you get butterflies in your stomach?

There are a lot of phrases in the English language – ‘gut-wrenching’, ‘gut feeling’, ‘butterflies in your stomach’, which tend to relate human emotions to the abdominal region.

And as per research, these might not be that misleading after all.

Scientists have discovered a strong link between our gut health and our brain. The Vagus nerve, which the longest cranial nerve in our body, connects our brain to the gastrointestinal tract. In fact, when scientists cut this nerve in the mice, they saw no effects of digestion on the mice brain whatsoever.

These studies revealed to the world one of the most important functions of gut bacteria – the control of stress hormones.

The digestive tract and the brain are so closely knit that the gut is often referred to as the “second brain”.

Proven steps to improved digestion

Watch what you eat!

In an experiment, where an individual was fed sugar-rich processed for ten straight days, shocking things were observed in his gut.

The individual had lost a massive amount of gut bacteria (there are roughly 100 trillion organisms comprising your gut flora) and suffered physiological and psychological damage throughout the process.

Hence, the moral of the story is, sugar is your digestive tract’s mortal enemy.

Eat fats, but the healthy kind. As you know, your cholesterol has two components – HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (Bad cholesterol). Fats that enhance your HDL count are good fats. These are very important from the digestion point of view because they enhance metabolism and decrease pressure on liver and gallbladder. These are found in omega-3 fatty acid rich fishes, avocado, coconut, flaxseed, olive oil, seafood, and nuts.

When you talk about improving digestion, how can fiber-rich foods be far behind? Whole grains, vegetables, oats, and legumes, are the best source of fiber.

These add bulk to your stool. They also facilitate proper absorption of water in the body and smooth passing of bowels.

Such a fiber-rich diet keeps your gut flora happy, decreases gastrointestinal inflammation, and regulates your bowel movements. Eat a fiber-rich meal every day and you will never have to use a laxative ever again.

The latest trend of eating “probiotic” foods such as probiotic yogurts or “kefir” is actually great for your gut health and digestion. The main members of this probiotic family are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. These collectively protect you against diarrhea, lactose intolerance, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Moreover, these friendly-neighborhood bacteria colonies are our natural defense against eczema, vaginal infections, urinary tract infections, and even the common cold.

Watch what you do!

Digestion doesn’t begin in our stomach, but it starts in our mouths.

The moment we take a bite of food, our oral cavity triggers the process of digestion. The teeth are busy in mechanically breaking down the food. The salivary glands make the food wet too so that it can easily travel along the food pipe.

If you don’t chew your food properly, it makes it harder for the stomach and the intestines to break it down.

Exercising, yoga, and basically any physical activity that keep you moving around are a boon for your digestion. These help in better absorption of nutrients. Moreover, breathing exercises have a positive influence on your bowel regularity. Moving around burns your food and uses it as a fuel. Undigested or poorly digested food ferments within your gut which leads to bloating, gastric troubles, acidity, and constipation.

Set-up a fixed eating schedule and follow it diligently. When you move out of a proper eating routine, it may cause bloating and indigestion.

The eating-clock should be coherent with your body’s internal clock. Have breakfast within an hour of waking up. Don’t skip lunch, even if you had a heavy breakfast.

Have dinner at least 3 hours before hitting the sack. Don’t keep extended time-gaps between each consecutive meal.

Just like you need to bathe every day, your internal organs, too, need to flush out toxins Detoxing is a great way to do that. Over time, our body tends to accumulate toxins and poisonous elements which alter normal bodily functions, mainly digestion. Detox techniques, clear out the gut, restore the gut microbiome (gut bacteria universe), and restore smooth functioning of all the vital digestive organs.

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Digestion is not only related to proper breakdown of food and absorption of nutrients. It plays a critical factor in reversing body inflammation and improving your mental health too. The best way to improve digestion include - staying away from sugar and processed foods, eating healthy fats, consuming high fiber foods, drinking 8 glasses of water, and adding up on probiotic foods. Fermented vegetables, apple cider vinegar, flax seeds etc are great for your gut bacteria. Ensure that you perform exercises regularly. Yoga is known to improve digestion, especially in people with chronic digestive disorders.

Foods high in sugar and artificial chemicals produce high inflammation in the body and are thus bad for digestion. These are some of the commonly eaten foods that are actually the worst foods for your stomach and digestion - alcohol, artificial sweeteners, saturated fats (animal fats), food additives, fried foods, soda drinks, hydrogenated oils, and certain varieties of soft cheeses.

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